User behavior based mobile broadband user plane traffic generation system and method for real-like measurement generation

ABSTRACT

A system, a method, and a graphical user interface testing tool are described herein for constructing a validation trace (i.e., high-speed realistic network traffic) using a real network without causing privacy concerns. In one embodiment, the method comprises the steps of: (a) providing a client device which has one or more applications operating thereon and a graphical user interface; (b) recording user interactions on the client device; (c) extracting usage scenarios from real network traffic in the real network; (d) emulating user actions on the client device according to a specific user scenario by utilizing the recorded user interactions and the extracted usage scenarios to generate additional real traffic in the real network; and (e) creating the validation trace based on the generated additional real traffic and the extracted usage scenarios.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates in general to a system, a method, and agraphical user interface testing tool configured to construct avalidation trace (i.e., high-speed realistic network traffic) using areal network without causing privacy concerns.

BACKGROUND

The following abbreviations are herewith defined, at least some of whichare referred to within the following description of the prior art andthe present invention.

-   DPI Deep Packet Inspection-   HTTP Hypertext Transfer Protocol-   ISP Internet Service Providers-   P2P Peer-to-peer-   QoS Quality of Service-   RAN Radio Access Network-   RNC Radio Network Controller-   SMTP Simple Mail Transfer Protocol-   TCP/IP Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol

In-depth understanding of a profile for Internet traffic is achallenging task for researchers and a mandatory requirement for mostInternet Service Providers (ISP). To this end, Deep Packet Inspection(DPI) tools help ISPs in the quest for profiling networked applications.With this information in hand, ISPs may then apply different chargingpolicies, traffic shaping, and offer different QoS guarantees toselected users or applications.

DPI tools search the traffic in a stateless manner for frequentlyoccurring protocol fragments referred to in the art as signatures torecognize a specific application in a data stream. DPI tools can betested in terms of accuracy as well as performance, where accuracy isthe ratio of well-classified traffic and the total traffic of a specificapplication and performance shows the number of tested signatures for agiven size (specific bandwidth) of traffic in a fix period of time. Inthis regard, it is well known that increasing accuracy by adding moreand more signatures to the application-signature database negativelyaffects performance. The goal of the developers of DPI tools is toprovide high enough accuracy in real world telecommunication networkswith the highest possible performance.

The best solution to help meet this goal is to enable DPI tools to usemeasurements from a real telecommunications network, but the networkdata is the property of the operator and there are plenty of privacyissues can arise. As such, the most common solution used today formeeting this goal is to enable DPI tools to use measurements from usertraffic simulators which mimic several application level networkprotocols (e.g., HTTP, SMTP), transport layer network protocols (e.g.,TCP/IP), and user behavior (e.g., Poisson arrival). However, simulatorsare not very flexible. For instance, simulators can only mimic extremescenarios e.g., when the transport network utilizes the full bandwidthor when the packets arrive with a limited speed. In practice, thetraffic is more elastic and difficult to simulate when compared to realworld scenarios. Plus, simulators can only simulate such traffic whichis encoded in them and to create up-to-date traffic the simulator has tobe updated with the most up-to-date signatures. To this end, thesimulator would practically need to know the whole protocol and replaythe protocol to create valid conversations between the network parties.This whole process is an overhead which can be saved if the DPI toolscould use measurements (validation traces) obtained by using realprotocols in a real network environment. Thus, there is a need for asystem that can provide an in-depth understanding of a traffic profileby constructing a validation trace (i.e., high-speed realistic networktraffic) using a real network without causing privacy concerns. Thisneed and other needs are satisfied by the system and method of thepresent invention.

SUMMARY

A system, a graphical user interface tool, and methods have beendescribed in the independent claims of the present application.Advantageous embodiments of the system, the graphical user interfacetool, and the methods have been described in the dependent claims.

In one aspect, the present invention provides a method for constructinga validation trace using a real network without causing privacyconcerns. The method comprises the steps of: (a) providing a clientdevice which has one or more applications operating thereon and agraphical user interface; (b) recording user interactions on the clientdevice; (c) extracting usage scenarios from real network traffic in thereal network; (d) emulating user actions on the client device accordingto a specific user scenario by utilizing the recorded user interactionsand the extracted usage scenarios to generate additional real traffic inthe real network; and (d) creating the validation trace based on thegenerated additional real traffic and the extracted usage scenarios. Themethod has an advantage in that it can be used to record theinteractions on the real network which would not be a privacy issuebecause the user actions are emulated on the client device (not actualuser) utilizing information namely the extracted usage scenarios and therecorded user interaction which do not contain data identifying aspecific “real” user or a specific “real” device but has enough usageinformation to generate the validation trace.

In yet another aspect, the present invention provides a system forconstructing a validation trace using a real network without causingprivacy concerns. The system comprises a client device, a recordingdevice, an extracting device, a graphical user interface testing tool,and a creating device. The client device has one or more applicationsoperating thereon and a graphical user interface. The recording devicerecords user interactions on the client device. The extracting deviceextracts usage scenarios from real network traffic in the real network.The graphical user interface testing tool emulates user actions on theclient device according to a specific user scenario by utilizing therecorded user interactions and the extracted usage scenarios to generateadditional real traffic in the real network. The creating device createsthe validation trace based on the generated additional real traffic andthe extracted usage scenarios. The system has an advantage in that itcan record the interactions on the real network which would not be aprivacy issue because the user actions emulated on the client device(not actual user) utilize information namely the extracted usagescenarios and the recorded user interaction which do not contain dataidentifying a specific “real” user or a specific “real” device but hasenough usage information to generate the validation trace.

In still yet another aspect, the present invention provides a graphicaluser interface testing tool for constructing a validation trace using areal network without causing privacy concerns. The graphical userinterface testing tool comprises: (a) a processor; and; (b) a memorythat stores processor-executable instructions wherein the processorinterfaces with the memory and executes the processor-executableinstructions to: (i) obtain user interactions that were recorded when auser interacted with a client device which has one or more applicationsoperating thereon and a graphical user interface; (ii) obtain usagescenarios that were extracted from real network traffic in the realnetwork; (iii) emulate user actions on the client device according to aspecific user scenario by utilizing the user interactions and the usagescenarios to generate additional real traffic in the real network; and(iv) store the generated additional real traffic, wherein the storedgenerated additional real traffic and the usage scenarios are used tocreate the validation trace. The graphical user interface testing toolhas an advantage in that it can be used to construct a validation tracewithout causing a privacy issue because the user actions emulated on theclient device (not actual user) utilize information namely the extractedusage scenarios and the recorded user interaction which do not containdata identifying a specific “real” user or a specific “real” device buthas enough usage information to generate the validation trace.

In still yet another aspect, the present invention provides a methodimplemented by graphical user interface testing tool for constructing avalidation trace using a real network without causing privacy concerns.The method comprising the steps of: (a) obtaining user interactions thatwere recorded when a user interacted with a client device which has oneor more applications operating thereon and a graphical user interface;(b) obtaining usage scenarios that were extracted from real networktraffic in the real network; (c) emulating user actions on the clientdevice according to a specific user scenario by utilizing the userinteractions and the usage scenarios to generate additional real trafficin the real network; and (d) storing the generated additional realtraffic, wherein the stored generated additional real traffic and theusage scenarios are used to create the validation trace. The method hasan advantage in that it can be used to construct a validation tracewithout causing a privacy issue because the user actions emulated on theclient device (not actual user) utilize information namely the extractedusage scenarios and the recorded user interaction which do not containdata identifying a specific “real” user or a specific “real” device buthas enough usage information to generate the validation trace.

Additional aspects of the invention will be set forth, in part, in thedetailed description, figures and any claims which follow, and in partwill be derived from the detailed description, or can be learned bypractice of the invention. It is to be understood that both theforegoing general description and the following detailed description areexemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the inventionas disclosed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete understanding of the present invention may be obtainedby reference to the following detailed description when taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary system for constructing avalidation trace (high speed realistic network traffic) using a realnetwork in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating the steps of an exemplary method forconstructing a validation trace (high speed realistic network traffic)using a real network in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a portion of the system and real networkshown in FIG. 1 which is used to help explain in greater detail how aproving step (step 202) and recording step (step 204) of the methodshown in FIG. 2 can be performed in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a portion of the system and real networkshown in FIG. 1 which is used to help explain in greater detail how anextracting step (step 206) of the method shown in FIG. 2 can beperformed in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a portion of the system and real networkshown in FIG. 1 which is used to help explain in greater detail how anemulating step (step 208) of the method shown in FIG. 2 can be performedin accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a portion of the system and real networkshown in FIG. 1 which is used to help explain in greater detail how acreating step (step 210) of the method shown in FIG. 2 can be performedin accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, there are respectively shown a block diagramof an exemplary system 100 and a flowchart of a method 200 forconstructing a validation trace 102 (high speed realistic networktraffic 102) using a real network 104 in accordance with an embodimentof the present invention. In this example, the real network 104 hascomponents located in two locations A and B. The components located inlocation A include a transmission station 106 which is connected via awired connection to a RAN 108. The components located in location Binclude a RAN 110, a transmission station 112, multiple subscribers 114a and 114 b (only two shown), a user plane traffic database 116, and acell level events measurement database 118. The RAN 108 is connected toRAN 110 via the internet 120. In addition, the RAN 110 is connected viaa wired connection to the transmission station 112 which is connectedvia wireless connections to the subscribers 114 a and 114 b. The userplane traffic database 116 stores user plane measurements which aretaken from one or more connections between the RAN 110 and the internet120. The cell level events measurement database 118 stores cell levelevents taken from the transmission station 112. One skilled in the artwill readily appreciate that the real network 104 shown is exemplary andomits many components which are not needed to explain how the system 100constructs the validation trace 102 (high speed realistic networktraffic 102) in accordance with the present invention.

The system 100 includes one or more client devices 122, a recordingdevice 124, a mouse and keyboard events database 126, an extractingdevice 128, a user and traffic models database 130, a graphical userinterface testing tool 132, a network traffic database 134, a creatingdevice 136, and a high speed realist network traffic database 138. Theclient device(s) 122 are shown located in location A and connected viawireless connections to the real network's transmission station 106(step 202 in FIG. 2). Each client device 122 has one or moreapplications 140 a, 140 b and 140 c operating thereon and a GUI 142. Therecording device 124 connects to the client devices 122, records theuser interactions on the client devices 122, and stores the recordeduser interactions in the mouse and keyboard events database 126 (step204 in FIG. 2). The extracting device 128 connects to the user planetraffic database 116 and the cell level events measurement database 118,extracts usage scenarios from real network traffic in the real network104, and stores the extracted usage scenarios in the user and trafficmodels database 130 (step 206 in FIG. 2). The graphical user interfacetesting tool 132 emulates user actions on the client device(s) 122according to a specific user scenario by utilizing the recorded userinteractions obtained from the recording database 124 and the extractedusage scenarios obtained from the user and traffic models database 130to generate additional real traffic 144 in the real network 104 (step208 in FIG. 2). The network traffic database 134 stores the generatedadditional real traffic 144. The creating device 136 creates thevalidation trace 102 based on the generated additional real traffic 144(stored in the network traffic database 134) and the extracted usagescenarios (stored in the user and user and traffic models database 130)(step 210 in FIG. 2). The creating device 136 then stores the validationtrace 102 within the high speed realistic network traffic database 138.A more detailed discussion about how the system 100 can be used toperform steps 202, 204, 206, 208 and 210 to construct the validationtrace 102 is provided below with respect to FIGS. 3-6.

Referring to FIG. 3, there is shown a block diagram of a portion of thesystem 100 and real network 104 which is used to help explain in greaterdetail how the providing step 202 and the recording step 204 of method200 can be performed in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention. In this stage, the client device(s) 122 (three shown) arelocated in location A and connected via wireless connections to the realnetwork's transmission station 106 (step 202 in FIG. 2). Each clientdevice 122 has one or more applications 140 a, 140 b and 140 c operatingthereon and the GUI 142. Thus, when a new application is added to thereal network 104 or one of the GUI's applications 140 a, 140 b and 140 chas changed significantly, a user 141 will interact with the clientdevice 122 and use the new or changed application while the recordingdevice 124 records the user interactions with the GUI 142 (step 204 inFIG. 2). The recording step 204 typically involves the naming of theinput fields, buttons, etc. not the exact location of the mouse cursor.Thus, the recording step 204 is actually robust to changes in the clientdevice's GUI 142. The recorded user interactions are stored within themouse and keyboard events database 126. It should be noted that the lookand feel of the client device's GUI 142 would typically change lessfrequently than the underlying network protocol: e.g., Skype had thesame skin from version 1-3 and it has been radically changed only inversion 4. On the other hand, the underlying network protocol waschanged approximately ˜100 times during every sub-version.

Referring to FIG. 4, there is shown a block diagram of a portion of thesystem 100 and real network 104 which is used to help explain in greaterdetail how the extracting step 206 of method 200 can be performed inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention. In this stage,the extracting device 128 connects to the user plane traffic database116 and the cell level events measurement database 118, extracts usagescenarios from real network traffic in the real network 104, and storesthe extracted usage scenarios in the user and traffic models database130 (step 206 in FIG. 2). In particular, the user plane traffic and celllevel event measurements are taken in the real network 104 (e.g., realmobile broadband network 104) and stored in the user plane trafficdatabase 116 and the cell level events measurement database 118. Then,typical traffic models and usage scenarios are extracted by theextracting device 128 from the user plane traffic database 116 and thecell level events measurement database 118 and stored in the user andtraffic models database 130. The traffic models and usage scenariosextracted would typically not contain information identifying a specific“real” user 114 a and 114 b or a specific “real” device. The extractingstep 206 can be done anytime with respect to the recording step 204however it is desirable if the user and traffic models database 130 isup-to-date with respect to the recording step 204 as it's contents willhave an affect on the quality of the final validation trace 102. In thisregard, it is desirable to perform the recording step 204 and extractingstep 206 in parallel but they can also be performed at different timesif desired since the stored information can always be used to constructthe resulting validation trace 102.

Referring to FIG. 5, there is shown a block diagram of a portion of thesystem 100 and real network 104 which is used to help explain in greaterdetail how the emulating step 208 of method 200 can be performed inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention. In this stage,the graphical user interface testing tool 132 emulates user actions onthe client device(s) 122 according to a specific user scenario byutilizing the recorded user interactions obtained from the mouse andkeyboard events database 126 and the extracted usage scenarios obtainedfrom the user and traffic models database 130 to generate additionalreal traffic 144 in the real network 104 (step 208 in FIG. 2). Thenetwork traffic database 134 stores the generated additional realtraffic 144. Typically, the graphical user interface testing tool 132will emulate the user actions on the client device(s) 122 when an eventoccurs that triggers a need for a new up-to-date validation trace 102.For instance, the trigger event can include: (1) altering the version ofthe client device 122; (2) altering a protocol; and (3) altering userbehavior, e.g., new applications, more users that utilize a lot ofresources, a lot of new users to the operator, new handheld devices withdifferent radio characteristics.

In operation, when an event is triggered such that a new up-to-datevalidation trace 102 is needed, the graphical user interface testingtool 132 obtains information from the recording database 124 and theuser and traffic models database 130 and emulates the user actions onthe client device(s) 122. In particular, the graphical user interfacetesting tool 132 drives one or more of the applications 140 a, 140 b and140 c on the client device(s) 122 using the information from the mouseand keyboard events database 126 according to a specific user scenariotaken from the user and traffic models database 130 (input for the useremulation) to generate additional real traffic 144 in the real network104. The network traffic database 134 is used to record the generatedadditional real traffic 144. Thus, the user of the graphical userinterface testing tool 132 selects one of the several scenarios in theuser and traffic models database 130 that resembles a specific scenariothat they would like to reconstruct. Then, the graphical user interfacetesting tool 132 takes the necessary user actions from the mouse andkeyboard events database 126 and emulates the user actions on the clientdevice(s) 122 to generate additional real traffic 144 in the realnetwork 104.

In one example, the specific usage scenario that can be tested involvesa scenario where the effects of multiple applications 140 a, 140 b and140 c on each other are emulated e.g., web browsing with streaming radioand background P2P traffic. In this way, the effects that multipleapplications 140 a, 140 b and 140 c have on each other's traffic withinthe transport layer do not need to be simulated later. In anotherexample, several access network types can be simulated where the clientdevice(s) 122 access to the internet 120 would be throttled accordingly.

In other examples, the specific usage scenario to be tested may requirethe synchronization of two clients 122. For example, in the case ofemulating Skype, two clients 122 need to be launched; the one making thecall and the other receiving the call. The scripts replaying the GUIevents to each Skype client 122 need to be synchronized for this towork. This synchronization can be achieved in several ways: (a) one wayis that the answering party's Skype client 122 is set to automaticanswering mode, thus in case of an incoming call it automatically picksit up and the call is established; or (b) the incoming call at thereceiving party triggers the graphical user interface testing tool 132to pick up the receiving party's Skype client 122 and establish theconnection. Such event based and timer based conditional triggers can beset in GUI testing scripts of the graphical user interface testing tool132.

The measurements for the generated additional real traffic 144 stored inthe network traffic database 134 can be taken in a different locationwithin the real network 104 than the measurements taken during theextracting step 206. For instance, if the client devices 122 are locatedclose to each other then they are also likely to be connected to thesame cell, hence the traffic on a cell level can be emulated using thegraphical user interface testing tool 132. Thus, the total cell capacityfor the user plane case can be simulated rather easy this way and caneven be done by one user. However, the control plane traffic should notbe simulated this way, as the load of the RNC (not shown) caused by afew client devices 122 in the system 100 is far less than in the realnetwork 104.

Referring to FIG. 6, there is shown a block diagram of a portion of thesystem 100 and real network 104 which is used to help explain in greaterdetail how the creating step 210 of method 200 can be performed inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention. In this stage,the creating device 136 creates the validation trace 102 based on thegenerated additional real traffic 144 (stored in the network trafficdatabase 134) and the extracted usage scenarios (stored in the user anduser and traffic models database 130) (step 210 in FIG. 2). Inparticular, the creating device 126 multiplies the information in theuser and user and traffic models database 130 and trace fragments of thegenerated additional real traffic 144 in the network traffic database134 to create aggregated traffic which represents the validation trace102. For instance, the aggregation phase of the creating step 210 can beperformed by using tools editcap (e.g.,http://www.wireshark.org/docs/wsug_html_chunked/AppToolseditcap.html) tomodify the packet headers and then replay them with tcpreplay tools(e.g., http://tcpreplay.synfin.net/). In one basic example, thegenerated additional real traffic 144 may consist of such packets withheaders that contain the IP of the few hosts taking part in theconstruction of the active measurement. However, the number of thesepackets are quite few and as such it would be beneficial to create abigger user population virtually in which case the IP addresses in themeasurements should be varied. With mergecap (which is also part ofeditcap tools) it is possible to merge several header modified tracefiles into a big one. Then, tcpreplay tools can be used to replay thisbig file on the real network 104. Alternatively, the aggregation phaseof the creating step 210 can be performed by using more sophisticatedaggregation tools following formal traffic models (e.g., Paul E.Heegaard. GenSyn—a Java based generator of synthetic Internet trafficlinking user behaviour models to real network protocols. Presentation atITC Specialist Seminar on IP Traffic Measurement, Modeling andManagement, Sep. 18-20, 2000, Monterey, Calif. (USA)). The creatingsystem 126 stores the validation trace 102 (e.g., high speed realisticnetwork traffic 102) within the high speed realistic network trafficdatabase 138.

From the foregoing, one skilled in the art will appreciate that thepresent invention is aimed, at least, to provide a system 100 and method200 for constructing a validation trace 102 (e.g., high-speed realisticnetwork traffic 102) using a real network 104 without causing privacyconcerns. The system 100 can be used to record the interactions on thereal network 104 which would not be a privacy issue because thegraphical user interface testing tool 132 would emulate user actions onthe tester's client device(s) 122 (not actual users) while usinginformation about usage scenarios stored in the user and traffic modelsdatabase 130 that lack information identifying a specific “real” user ora specific “real” device but has enough usage information to generatereal like traces associated with the generated real traffic 144. Thus,the present invention has several advantages including (for example):

(1) The validation trace 102 is based on active measurements which canbe made public without any privacy issues.

(2) The validation trace 102 is generated according to the mostup-to-date application sessions and user scenarios.

(3) The process of generating the validation trace 102 is highlyautomatic.

(4) The validation trace 102 can be used for both performance andvalidation tests.

(5) The validation traffic 102 is based on real world traffic and has apayload that contains real data not simulated data.

In addition, one skilled in the art will appreciate that the validationtrace 102 can be generated offline as well as online. In the onlinecase, the validation trace 102 is created with the proposed system 100on demand which requires a large amount of processing power but limiteddisk space. In the offline case, the validation trace 102 is generatedby the system 100 slower than real-time and the result is saved to adisc (e.g., high speed realistic network traffic database 138) which issimply replayed later. In this last case, the processing requirementscan be low but the required capacity of the disk (e.g., high speedrealistic network traffic database 138) is high.

The present invention also provides a graphical user interface testingtool 132 (and method implemented by same) that construct a validationtrace 102 using a real network 104 without causing privacy concerns. Thegraphical user interface testing tool 132 comprises: (a) a processor150; and (b) a memory 152 (non-transitory memory 152) that storesprocessor-executable instructions where the processor 150 interfaceswith the memory 152 and executes the processor-executable instructionsto: (1) obtain user interactions that were recorded when a userinteracted with a client device 122 which has one or more applications140 a, 140 b and 140 c operating thereon and a graphical user interface142; (2) obtain usage scenarios that were extracted from real networktraffic in the real network 104; (3) emulate user actions on the clientdevice 122 according to a specific user scenario by utilizing the userinteractions and the usage scenarios to generate additional real traffic144 in the real network 104; and (4) store the generated additional realtraffic 144, wherein the stored generated additional real traffic andthe usage scenarios are used to create the validation trace 102.

Although one embodiment of the present invention has been illustrated inthe accompanying Drawings and described in the foregoing DetailedDescription, it should be understood that the invention is not limitedto the disclosed embodiment, but instead is also capable of numerousrearrangements, modifications and substitutions without departing fromthe present invention that as has been set forth and defined within thefollowing claims.

1. A method for constructing a validation trace using a real networkwithout causing privacy concerns, the method comprising the steps of:providing a client device which has one or more applications operatingthereon and a graphical user interface; recording user interactions onthe client device; extracting usage scenarios from real network trafficin the real network; emulating user actions on the client deviceaccording to a specific user scenario by utilizing the recorded userinteractions and the extracted usage scenarios to generate additionalreal traffic in the real network; and creating the validation tracebased on the generated additional ea traffic and the extracted usagescenarios.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the recording step furtherincludes the steps of: enabling the user to use the one or moreapplications on the client device; recording the user interactions withthe graphical user interface while the user uses the one or moreapplications on the client device; and storing the recorded userinteractions.
 3. A method for constructing a validation trace using areal network without causing privacy concerns, the method comprising thesteps of: providing a client device which has one or more applicationsoperating thereon and a graphical user interface; recording userinteractions on the client device; extracting usage scenarios from realnetwork traffic in the real network; emulating user actions on theclient device according to a specific user scenario by utilizing therecorded user interactions and the extracted usage scenarios to generateadditional real traffic in the real network, wherein the extracting stepfurther includes the steps of: storing user plane traffic and cell levelevent measurements taken from the real network; extracting at least aportion of the stored user plane traffic and the stored cell level eventmeasurements to obtain the usage scenarios: and storing the usagescenarios; and creating the validation trace based on the generatedadditional real traffic and the extracted usage scenarios.
 4. The methodof claim 1, wherein the usage scenarios extracted from the real networktraffic in the real network do not contain information that identifies aclient device or a user.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the recordingstep and the extracting step are performed at different times.
 6. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the emulating step further includes the stepsof: obtaining the extracted usage scenarios; obtaining the recorded userinteractions; emulating the user actions on the client device accordingto the specific user scenario by utilizing the recorded userinteractions and the extracted usage scenarios to generate additionalreal traffic in the real network; and storing the generated additionalreal traffic.
 7. A method for constructing a validation trace using areal network without causing privacy concerns, the method comprising thesteps of: providing a client device which has one or more applicationsoperating thereon and a graphical user interface; recording userinteractions on the client device; extracting usage scenarios from realnetwork traffic in the real network: emulating user actions on theclient device according to a specific user scenario by utilizing therecorded user interactions and the extracted usage scenarios to generateadditional real traffic in the real network, wherein the emulating stepfurther includes a step of synchronizing the client device with anotherclient device where one of the client devices makes a call and otherclient device receives the call; and creating the validation trace basedon the generated additional real traffic and the extracted usagescenarios.
 8. A method for constructing a validation trace using a realnetwork without causing privacy concerns, the method comprising thesteps of: providing a client device which has one or more applicationsoperating thereon and a graphical user interface; recording userinteractions on the client device; extracting usage scenarios from realnetwork traffic in the real network; emulating user actions on theclient device according to a specific user scenario by utilizing therecorded user interactions and the extracted usage scenarios to generateadditional real traffic in the real network; and creating the validationtrace based on the generated additional real traffic and the extractedusage scenarios; wherein the creating step further includes the stepsof: obtaining a plurality of trace fragments from the generated realtraffic; obtaining the extracted usage scenarios; multiplying thegenerated real traffic trace fragments using the extracted usagescenarios to create the validation trace; and storing the validationtrace.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the recorded user interactionand the extracted usage scenarios lack information identifying a realuser or real client device in the real network.
 10. A system forconstructing a validation trace using a real network without causingprivacy concerns, the system comprising: a client device which has oneor more applications operating thereon and a graphical user interface; arecording device that records user interactions on the client device; anextracting device that extracts usage scenarios from real networktraffic in the real network; a graphical user interface testing toolthat emulates user actions on the client device according to a specificuser scenario by utilizing the recorded user interactions and theextracted usage scenarios to generate additional real traffic in thereal network; and a creating device that creates the validation tracebased on the generated additional real traffic and the extracted usagescenarios.
 11. The system of claim 10, wherein the recording devicefurther stores the recorded user interactions.
 12. A system forconstructing a validation trace using a real network without causingprivacy concerns, the system comprising; a client device which has oneor more applications operating thereon and a graphical user interface; arecording device that records user interactions on the client device; anextracting device that extracts usage scenarios from real networktraffic in the real network, wherein the extracting device extracts theusage scenarios from databases containing user plane traffic and celllevel event measurements taken from the real network and stores theextracted usage scenarios; a graphical user interface testing tool thatemulates user actions on the client device according to a specific userscenario by utilizing the recorded user interactions and the extractedusage scenarios to generate additional real traffic in the real network;and a creating device that creates the validation trace based on thegenerated additional real traffic and the extracted usage scenarios. 13.The system of claim 10, wherein the usage scenarios extracted from thereal network traffic in the real network do not contain information thatidentifies a client device or a user.
 14. The system of claim 10,wherein the recording device records the user interactions at adifferent time than when the extracting device extracts the usagescenarios from the real network.
 15. The system of claim 10, wherein thegraphical user interface testing tool stores the generated additionalreal traffic.
 16. A system for constructing a validation trace using areal network without causing privacy concerns, the system comprising: aclient device which has one or more applications operating thereon and agraphical user interface; a recording device that records userinteractions on the client device; an extracting device that extractsusage scenarios from real network traffic in the real network; agraphical user interface testing tool that emulates user actions on theclient device according to a specific user scenario by utilizing therecorded user interactions and the extracted usage scenarios to generateadditional real traffic in the real network, wherein the graphical userinterface testing tool synchronizes the client device with anotherclient device where one of the client devices makes a call and otherclient device receives the call; and a creating device that creates thevalidation trace based on the generated additional real traffic and theextracted usage scenarios.
 17. A system for constructing a validationtrace using a real network without causing privacy concerns, the systemcomprising: a client device which has one or more applications operatingthereon and a graphical user interface; a recording device that recordsuser interactions on the client device; an extracting device thatextracts usage scenarios from real network traffic in the real network;a graphical user interface testing tool that emulates user actions onthe client device according to a specific user scenario by utilizing therecorded user interactions and the extracted usage scenarios to generateadditional real traffic in the real network; and a creating device thatcreates the validation trace based on the generated additional realtraffic and the extracted usage scenarios, wherein the creating devicemultiplies a plurality of trace fragments from the generated additionalreal traffic with the extracted usage scenarios to create the validationtrace and then stores the validation trace.
 18. The system of claim 10,wherein the recorded user interaction and the extracted usage scenarioslack information identifying a real user or real client device in thereal network.
 19. A graphical user interface testing tool forconstructing a validation trace using a real network without causingprivacy concerns, the graphical user interface testing tool comprising:a processor; and a memory that stores processor-executable instructionswherein the processor interfaces with the memory and executes theprocessor-executable instructions to: obtain user interactions that wererecorded when a user interacted with a client device which has one ormore applications operating thereon and a graphical user interface;obtain usage scenarios that were extracted from real network traffic inthe real network; emulate user actions on the client device according toa specific user scenario by utilizing the user interactions and theusage scenarios to generate additional real traffic in the real network;and store the generated additional real traffic, wherein the storedgenerated additional real traffic and the usage scenarios are used tocreate the validation trace.
 20. A method implemented by graphical userinterface testing tool for constructing a validation trace using a realnetwork without causing privacy concerns, the method comprising thesteps of: obtaining user interactions that were recorded when a userinteracted with a client device which has one or more applicationsoperating thereon and a graphical user interface; obtaining usagescenarios that were extracted from real network traffic in the realnetwork; emulating user actions on the client device according to aspecific user scenario by utilizing the user interactions and the usagescenarios to generate additional real traffic in the real network; andstoring the generated additional real traffic, wherein the storedgenerated additional real traffic and the usage scenarios are used tocreate the validation trace.